Posts tagged “cosplay”

Although I haven’t yet purchased my wig (soon, very soon) I have collected a few of Jack’s trinkets to tie into it once it arrives. Jack has numerous beads and coins dangling from his hair, one of the most prominent being his “piece of eight”, which is featured heavily in At World’s End.

Though not really a piece of eight (actual coins used during the Golden Age of Piracy that were often cut into eight pieces to make change), Jack’s is so called because it once belonged to one of the original 9 pirate lords of the Brethren Court. When they first convened they didn’t have any actual pieces of eight on them and thus made due with what they had in there pockets at the time.

In reality the coin used in the movie is a Burmese 5 pya coin from the mid 20th century, and the beads are African trade beads. Several vendors have offered versions of Jack’s piece of eight over the years, including a cheap plastic version from the now defunct Master Replicas. These can still be found on eBay and Amazon. I originally purchased one of these back in 2006, but when I finally decided to assemble a complete Jack Sparrow costume I knew I wanted something a bit more accurate.

(Master Replicas version)

The piece of eight I really wanted was from Swag Arts (I mentioned their kohl eye make-up in my last post), but for quite some time they were listed as Out of Stock on the website. So being a bit impatient, and wanting to add something to my costume list, I asked the Jack’s over on facebook if any of them knew of a decent alternative. One of them offered to make me one, and I took him up on his it. What I received was quite passable, and given the lack of good pieces of eight available I was quite satisfied (a lot of attention has been shifted to Jack’s new “zombie finger” dangle worn in On Stranger Tides, so replicas of the original have become harder to find).

But, as luck would have it, shortly after the above piece of eight arrived Swag Arts relisted their pieces of eight, and I just couldn’t resist snagging up the one I’d really wanted all along. Even it wasn’t 100% authentic, but for the money it was the best one I’ve seen. The green and white beads looked closer to the Curse of the Black Pearl version, and the brown bead didn’t quite have the accurate barrel shape, but it was still a fantastic looking piece of eight, and most people would never notice.

As is usually the case with a maddening hobby like costuming though, I couldn’t leave well enough alone and eventually started perusing eBay to see if I might come upon some more accurate beads. It wasn’t long before I found some brown barrel beads that were spot on, and a set of green padre beads that looked pretty darn close. For good measure I also changed out the white bead with one from a set of beads I had lying around from the craft store that was a closer match size wise. In addition to changing the beads I also switched out the small metal ring that holds the coin on with one that was a bit smaller, and repainted the white pips on the red skunk bead. With all that done my piece of eight is now just about as screen accurate as I can get it!

Knowing that I will finally have my wig very soon I also picked up what is often called Jack’s African trade bead strand, or skunk bead strand. This came from Swag Arts as well. Jack has this string of beads tied to a dreadlock next to his right cheek.

Jack also has a couple more 5 pya coins tied into his wig, so I snagged a set from a vender on Etsy back a few months ago.

By “On Stranger Tides” Jack’s wig has changed quite a bit and now features several additional beads and coins, including one set made out of a couple of Chinese coins and often referred to as his “hidden Mickey” coin set (due to it’s resemblance to Mickey Mouse’s head and ears), and a pair of skull beads carved out of bone. Back several months ago there was a seller on eBay offering these and I purchased a set even though I’m going for a “Dead Man’s Chest/At World’s End” look rather than “On Stranger Tides.” I just like the look of them (I’ve got a bracelet made out of similar bone skull beads I wear all the time) so I think I might tie them in to my wig somewhere as a small personal touch.

I can’t believe it’s already been 2 years since I made the commitment to finally assemble a complete Captain Jack outfit, and I certainly never would have guessed that it would take quite so long to do it. But if all goes well I might just have a complete outfit by the end of 2014!

“True enough, this compass does not point north….it points to the thing you want most in this world.” – Captain Jack Sparrow

Captain Jack’s compass is one of the most iconic props featured in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. In “Curse of the Black Pearl” the compass leads Jack and his crew across the Caribbean to the dreaded Isla de Muerta and to his precious ship, the Black Pearl. In “Dead Man’s Chest” Jack can’t seem to make the compass work on his own and has to con others into using it so he can find the heart of Davy Jones. And in “At World’s End” the compass is constantly changing hands from one character to another as the double-crosses and triple-crosses pile up.

While looking for a replica of the compass for my costume I have found everything from elaborate wooden replicas priced over $200, to cheap plastic toys that barely look like the original at all. Forgotten Seas Trading Co. offers a fantastic resin version of the compass that uses earth magnets to make the dial spin (hide one in your palm glove to make it point in whatever direction you desire). It’s a version I certainly wouldn’t mind having at some point since a wooden replica might be a bit fragile, and if I got up to some crazy Captain Jack high jinks I’d hate for an expensive compass to get damaged.

But probably the most common compass that a lot of Jack Sparrows out there carry is a modified version of the Disney Store compass. These have become a bit of a rarity, though, and as such are usually a bit pricey when they show up on eBay. It wasn’t my first choice (naturally I’d prefer a wooden replica or the Forgotten Seas version), but when I found one on eBay that wasn’t outrageously priced I thought, “why not?”

The compass arrived looking every bit like the children’s toy it is, packaged with a vinyl replica of Sao Feng’s map, an eye patch, a pint-sized plastic skull ring, and a plastic clip-on hoop earring. But what makes this particular compass such a favorite among Captain Jack cosplayers is that it’s a fairly accurate size and has a free spinning dial.

Of course the dial face is all wrong, as is the latch and the lack of a ring to attach a leather cord to for tying it onto your belt, but that’s why this compass is a modifying project and not a ready-to-use prop.

One of my Jack Sparrow pals over on the message boards and facebook offered to do the mod, so I sent the compass his way to be decked out and made to look more authentic. First, he used a dremel to replicate the nicks and dings and make it look a bit beat up. Then he gave it a new coat of paint and replaced the dial using a more accurate one from an image he printed off the internet. Next, he replaced the flimsy plastic latch on the front with a metal one. And lastly, he added a brass ring to the back and a leather cord, and the compass was complete.

Once the compass was returned to me I finished it up by giving it a bit more age and weathering using acrylic paint and a sponge. And thus, the finish product looks something like this:

Is it a perfect replica of Jack’s compass? Of course not. But for an inexpensive plastic toy from the Disney Store I’d say it came out looking pretty darn great! Eventually I hope to own a more accurate version of Jack’s compass, but for now this one looks really good and will work just fine.

One vendor’s site that I’ve browsed many, many times is called Swag Arts where Tia Jill offers up some fantastic replicas of Jack’s Piece ‘O Eight and other various beads and coins for his wig, as well as some other awesome trinkets for Jack’s gear. I’ve recently been lucky enough to grab a couple of her items while they were in stock, and I’ll be discussing them in an upcoming post, but for now I just want to mention one small item I purchased from the site a few months ago. Tia Jill had been going through a big move and most of her items were out of stock, but since I was on the site with a few extra doubloons to spend I ordered some kohl eye makeup because it was available. Sure, any old black eye pencil could probably be used to achieve the same effect, but I like buying things within the Jack Sparrow costuming community whenever possible. I’ve only played with the makeup once since it arrived, and (although I clearly need a lesson or two in applying eye makeup) it seems to work really well. It was the middle of the night and I was bored, so I put on a silly Rastafarian beanie with dreads and my Jack Sparrow bandanna and snapped a selfie.

The checklist of things I need in order to finish my Captain Jack outfit is getting ever shorter, but the things still left on that list are also some of the biggest and most expensive parts of the costume. Some things I can substitute with bits of my Captain McAnen costume for the time being, like the shirt, pants, and waistcoat. But there is one item I need above all others in order to pull off even a passable Jack Sparrow look: the wig. Luckily I know exactly where I’m going to get it, and it’s going to be my Christmas present to myself this year.

It’s hard to believe I’ve been bumbling around mimicking everyone’s favorite wobbly-legged pirate for over 10 years, but it looks like 2014 will be the year I finally look the parts as well. So until next time, here’s wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Finally, the long awaited first video. Sure. it’s just an introduction, but it’s the beginning of bigger things to come. Check it out, and stick around, because more costuming adventures are on the way.

Okay, so this post has nothing to do with Jack Sparrow, but Jack isn’t the only character I plan to cosplay as. While a lot of my fellow Jack Sparrows out there are gearing up to be Johnny Depp’s Tonto from “The Lone Ranger” this Halloween, I’ve decided to go a different route. I’m going to be the Lone Ranger himself.

That’s the plan anyway. Halloween is fast approaching, but money is coming in rather slowly. On the plus side, I’m off to a great start and already have what are probably the most important pieces for the costume anyway. Worst case scenario I figure I can rent the rest from a costume shop or throw something together to get by if the costume isn’t 100% completed by the time All Hallows’ Eve rolls around.

So why the Lone Ranger instead of Tonto? Obviously Depp’s Comanche warrior costume is a lot of fun, and Tonto fits right in with the kind of oddball characters I like to play on stage. Sure I’m a little heavy and pale to dress up like an Indian at the moment, but I’d need to slim down to be the Lone Ranger or Jack Sparrow, too, so that’s really not a factor. You see, as cool as Depp’s Tonto is, and as much fun as it would be to put his costume together, I’m doing a Lone Ranger costume because I’ve been a fan of the Lone Ranger for as long as I can remember.

As a little kid back in the 80’s I used to watch reruns of The Lone Ranger on television, and I could often be found running around outside sporting a white hat, black domino mask, and a two-gun rig, shooting imaginary bad guys with my cap guns and riding a white stick horse. I had Lone Ranger action figures, and would build Old West towns out of Lincoln Logs for the Lone Ranger and Tonto to visit. I even had Lone Ranger decorations for my fourth birthday party!

(“How cool was my childhood?”)

The Lone Ranger was one of my favorite characters when I was a kid, right up there with Han Solo, Rambo, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. So when I heard Gore Verbinski would be directing a big screen version of The Lone Ranger starring Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer I was thrilled. I couldn’t wait to see their take on this classic hero, even if he had already become a bit cheesy by the time I first saw the reruns on cable TV all those years ago. The Lone Ranger needed to remain a white hat good guy, to be sure, but things like “Hi-Yo Silver! Away!” and the William Tell Overture would seem quite campy by today’s standards if not handled in just the right way.

On the eve of the movie’s official release date our local multiplex had an advanced screening and I was there, ready to see the Lone Ranger and Tonto up on the big screen. It was the most fun I’ve had at the movies so far this year. Sure the critics hated it, but it seems like most of them had made up their minds about it long before it even came out. They complained that Depp’s Tonto was just another flamboyant Jack Sparrow type performance and that him playing an Indian was somehow racist. They complained about the film’s budget and its shifts in tone. The movie was never going to please them, but for me it was a blast.

Unfortunately it hasn’t done well theatrically either, having only made around $200 million worldwide on a $250 million dollar budget. In studio terms that’s a flop, but it has little to do with the film’s entertainment value. Every audience I saw it with (and I saw it 4 times) had an absolute blast with the movie, laughing at the comedic antics of Depp and Hammer and sitting on the edges of their seats during the action sequences. The movie is by no means perfect, but it’s a shame that it hasn’t done better at the box office. It’s likely we’ll never see “The Lone Ranger Rides Again” unless somehow the movie fares better in the overseas market and/or does a ton of business on blu-ray and DVD. It really is a fun movie, so hopefully it will find a wider fan base down the road as more people discover it on video and TV. I can certainly understand some of the reasons why the movie wasn’t a bigger hit, but since this blog is about costumes and not movie reviews I won’t go further into it here.

Anyway, I did consider doing a Tonto costume at one point, but after thinking about it for a while I decided my time and money on a costume that intricate would be better spent finishing the Jack Sparrow costume I’ve already started. However, after watching the movie a couple times I thought it would be fun to return to those “days of yesteryear” from my childhood and become the Lone Ranger once again.

First up, I snagged the officially licensed “Texas Rangers” badge prop replica by NECA at Hot Topic. It was on a discount rack marked down half-price and with a bunch of other items for “Buy One, Get One for $1”, So I bought two and sold the extra one on eBay. I turned a small profit and effectively made the one I kept a freebie. The badge, while not 100% screen accurate, is a pretty awesome prop made of a light metal (probably an alloy of some sort) and will work nicely for my costume.

One decision I made early on was not to aim for the same level of screen accuracy I’m striving for with my Jack Sparrow costume. This will be more of an interpretation of the Lone Ranger’s movie costume using the best items I can find without breaking the bank, and although I want to get as close to the screen costume as possible I’m not worried about making it 100% authentic. Since his outfit is fairly basic compared to something like Jack Sparrow or Tonto I’m going more for the overall silhouette than for the minute details. You could almost call this my “The Lone Ranger Rides Again” costume, allowing me some wiggle room and justifying any discrepancies between my gear and the screen used outfit.

Next, I did some searching over on eBay and found a nice leather mask from a seller in the UK. NECA makes a version of the mask, but I was fairly adamant that I wanted mine to be made of real leather and the NECA mask isn’t. For the movie a cast was made of Armie Hammer’s face, and a thin plastic mask was molded to fit him perfectly so that it would easily stay in place. Then it was covered with leather. Eventually I may try to find a well fitted plastic face mask I can use to do something similar, but for now I’ve wet molded the leather mask I purchased to fit my face and it seems to have worked pretty well.

(Leather Mask – New)

I did have to do a bit of trimming to get the shape of the mask just right because initially it looked a little more like a Zorro or Dread Pirate Roberts mask to me. I wanted to be able to see more of my nose and give the brow more of a rounded look, and luckily trimming it was pretty easy. I may also try to weather the mask a bit later on, but for now I’m quite happy with it.

(Leather Mask -Modified)

The other key piece I knew I needed was a white cowboy hat. Having been a rodeo cowboy back in my younger days I wore a lot of hats and used to be a bit of a hat snob, only buying the best felt hats I could find. Since this hat would be for a costume I didn’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on it, but I also didn’t want a cheap costume hat that would get torn up easily either. The hat used in the movie is a Stetson, so I started looking from there. In the past I always wore Resistol hats, and it turns out Resistol and Stetson are both made in the same factory these days, so that helped broaden my search. I also looked at other brands I remembered from back in my rodeo days like Bailey, Beaver Brand, and Milano. I knew I’d have to reblock the crown since most cowboy hats come pre-bashed with a cattleman style crease these days, so I wanted a decent felt to work with without spending a ton of money on it. After looking at different hats online I narrowed it down to either a Resistol Pageant hat or a Bailey Spur hat. Both are made of wool, although I think it is likely alpaca wool rather than sheep’s wool. Since these hats run from about $94-$125 new, I searched eBay on a regular basis to see if I could catch a nice used one at a good price.

(Resistol Pageant Hat – New)

Years ago I actually bought a white felt Resistol hat. It was from their George Strait line, and I wore it as a bit of an homage to the old white hat good guys of classic westerns like Roy Rogers and the Lone Ranger. Unfortunately I sold it on eBay a couple of years ago, not knowing a Lone Ranger film was on the way. I’d be more bummed about it, but my head’s grown a bit over the years so it likely would have been too snug now anyway. Oh well.

Anyway, late one night on a whim I decided to check out craigslist just to see if someone in the area might have a used white cowboy hat for sale. I wasn’t holding out much hope, after all I was looking for a pearly white felt hat in my size. But lo and behold a Resistol Pageant hat turned up, never worn and still in the original box, and the seller was only asking $70 for it! I didn’t really need to spend $70 right then, but I didn’t want to miss a deal like that either. I spent most of the next day debating on whether to call and ask about it or not, and finally decided “what the heck” and gave the guy a ring. He still had it, so I asked if he’d take $60 for it. He agreed, and off I went to claim my new hat. He wasn’t kidding when he said he’d never gotten around to wearing it, it still had the original crease that hats like it come with straight out of the box. He’d bought it because it was on sale and he thought it would be fun to have, but never found any excuse to wear it and was tired of it taking up space in his closet. It would take a bit of work to get the original shape out and put the new bash in, but I wasn’t about to pass up such a good deal.

(My hat, reblocked to look like the movie hat.)

The first thing I had to do was pop out the cattleman crease from the crown so it could be reshaped. I took it to a western wear store where they had a hat dome and used it to reopened the crown. The guy at the store did a little bit of the creasing for me, but it still needed a lot of work done to it when I got home. Creasing cowboy hats is nothing new to me, so I heated up the tea kettle and got to work steaming and shaping it. Using photos of Armie Hammer in costume and of a Stetson Seneca (which has the same basic teardrop crown shape as the movie hat) I set to work reblocking the crown. Once I had it looking right I went to work on the brim. In the movie the Lone Rangers hat brim is quite wide across the front, the sides turned up without much curl or a hard crease. The front of the brim is also turned up just a bit. It took some playing around, but after about an hour the hat was looking pretty close to the original.

One thing about working with cheaper felt hats, it can take a bit more effort to get them to really hold their shape, so every day for about a week I messed with it a bit more, spraying it with a light mist of water from a spray bottle and molding the felt to the shape I wanted. After all, The Lone Ranger’s hat needs a lived in look, it shouldn’t look like it just came new off the shelf. The hardest part was getting the dent bashes in the side of the crown, but after working with it a little every day I finally got it just the way I wanted it.

The hatband is different than the one on the movie hat, it’s made of the same felt as the hat with a silver-toned buckle on the side, whereas the movie hat has a classic ribbon band, but that’s a minor detail. All-in-all I’m really pleased with the the way it turned out. Would I have liked for the felt to be a little higher quality? Sure. But I really couldn’t justify spending hundreds of dollars on a beaver felt hat just to beat it up to make it look like the hat from the movie.

I’ve already found a great coat and vest for the costume and am watching eBay to see if I can snag them at a good price, too. They’re both from a company called WahMaker that produces Old West and Victorian Era clothing, and the style of both the coat and vest is called the Vigilante. The great thing about them is they can also be used for other costumes I hope to eventually put together, such as a Van Helsing costume based on the one I wore in “Dracula: The Musical?”, and a Robert Downey Jr. style Sherlock Holmes costume. The Lone Ranger’s shirt in the movie is a bib style shirt commonly worn in the old west, but with a slightly more modern collar. For the costume I think any white dress shirt will do fine for now since it’ll mostly be hidden by the vest and coat anyway. His pants are a dark brown with black pinstripes, and so far I’ve found a few options on some websites that sell Old West-style clothing that would work pretty well. As for his red checkered neck scarf, I should be able to find some material at Jo-Ann’s or Hobby Lobby that I can make one out of fairly easily. The other thing I’ve been watching for on eBay is an old pair of black pointed-toe cowboy boots. If I’m patient and keep an eye out for them I should be able to snag a decent used pair for around $25-$50.

Over the course of the movie the Lone Ranger wears two gun belts. The first is a brown gun belt with one right-hand draw holster, and his gun is a long barreled colt revolver with wooden hand grips. He wears this belt through most of the movie, and it would likely be the less expensive option for my costume since I would only need the one gun. The second gun belt he wears during the movie’s climactic action sequence, and it is a black belt with two holsters in which he carries two Colt Peacemakers with 5.5″ barrels and ivory grips. There’s a company called Denix that makes great replica pistols, but they don’t currently offer any with smooth ivory handles, so if I go this route I’ll most likely modify the wood grips with spray paint to simulate an ivory look.

During the end action sequence the Lone Ranger uses a black bullwhip and is wearing a pair of black gauntlet style gloves, but those are things that are not necessary to achieve the basic look of the character. A pair of spurs could be a cool addition, though, and there’s a chance I might still have a pair packed away somewhere from back in my cowboy days. Other than that the only other thing I can really think of to add to the costume would be some dummy bullets to wear in the gun belt, and those are easy to come by online. I’ve even found some “silver” ones!

As for my Captain Jack Sparrow gear, that journey is still far from over, and my excursion into Lone Ranger territory is only a small side-trip to put something simple together for Halloween. I’ve acquired a few more Jack Sparrow pieces since my last post, and will share them with you here very soon.

Now if only I could get someone to give me a white horse I could call Silver. That would be awesome!

My first item of 2013 has arrived, and it’s something I’ve wanted for almost 10 years now: the cursed Aztec gold medallion from “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.”

While technically not a part of Captain Jack’s costume, it is still an iconic prop and one that is instantly recognized by all who see it. The one I recently acquired may just be the most accurate pirate medallion out there, but it certainly wasn’t my first. In 2008 while attending the Texas Renaissance Festival I picked up a cheap but passable coin for like $5. It isn’t made of gold and has a huge loop at the top for a necklace to go through. It was also a bit too “shiny”, but I recently fixed that with some acrylic paint (one of my favorite things to use for weathering props). For the past 4 years it has sat inside a treasure chest with other assorted doubloons, but after my new gold coin arrived I decided the old one would make a great keychain, so now I carry it with me all the time.

Years ago I also bought my kid sister the Master Replicas Elizabeth Swann necklace, but I never purchase one for myself because the “gold” finish quickly wore off of hers and left the necklace and medallion looking like copper instead of gold. She eventually gave it too a friend. Then last year we found a 24 karat gold plated version of the necklace on eBay from a seller in China, and my sister now has one of them and is quite happy with it. I also aged it with some acrylic paint to make the designs stand out more, but it is a decent enough copy of the pirate medallion necklace.

But the version of the coin I’ve wanted for years was the Master Replicas Cursed Aztec Gold Coin Set. It features two 24 karat gold plated versions of the famous medallion: one with the skull and Aztec calendar design on the front and a maze-like pattern on the back (like most versions of the coin that are available), and the other with the skull and calendar design on both sides.

And now I finally have it!

The detail on the coins is fantastic, and they came in a collectible box with a Certificate of Authenticity. Master Replicas went out of business years ago, and as such this set hasn’t been available for a long time so they are incredibly hard to come by. I stumbled upon mine by luck on eBay. A seller had it listed as part of a lot that included 4 Master Replicas .45 scale lightsabers, and I won the auction for just $45! After it arrived I put the lightsabers up on eBay as individual auctions, so once they sold I had the pirate coins and even turned a profit!

I am truly convinced that these are the best versions of the Aztec gold coins that have ever been available, and I’ve been searching the internet for them for a very long time. I even had a minor fiasco a few years ago when I found them on a website and placed an order, only they never arrived and the merchant told me they’d been out of stock for years. Then the merchant tried to refuse me a refund by claiming it was my own fault for ordering a discontinued product from their website. Luckily I had placed the order via Paypal so I was eventually able to file a claim and get my money back. I later found out that the merchant had a lot of bad reviews. It turned out that many other customers had had similar problems placing orders from them only to find their items never arrived. and having little luck getting responses when they would message the seller to check on their orders. Unfortunately I no longer remember the name of the website, so I can only hope they’ve since gone out of business and are no longer mistreating customers.

Anyway, I am absolutely thrilled to finally have my hands on these amazing props, and they are proudly displayed on a shelf in my room. There was a time when Master Replicas was a leader in movie prop replicas, and this is quite possibly one of the greatest items they ever produced. I definitely won’t be letting these go.

I may only now be getting off to a slow start with my costuming adventures for 2013, but I still have several items to share with you that I acquired toward the end of 2012. Some, like the ones below, are relatively small and insignificant, and yet they are still an integral part in making a completed Jack Sparrow costume come to life.

One of these is Jack’s trophy lace, a long strip of lace that Jack has worn tied around his left wrist since “Dead Man’s Chest.” We find out in “On Stranger Tides” that Jack took this memento from Angelica while to two were on the island of La Martinique. This would be an easy enough piece of the costume to make myself as a strip from any old off-white lace would do, but I took the lazy way out and bought mine from a seller on eBay. It still needs to be weathered, but it looks pretty good.

The reason I decided to buy this particular bit of lace on eBay was because the seller had it listed with another small item: Jack’s black spot wrap from “Dead Man’s Chest”. In the movie Jack grabs a bit of old cloth to wrap around his left hand after Bootstrap Bill places the dreaded black spot upon Jack’s palm.

I’m not really blown away by this particular piece, it really should be longer and was definitely a case of something looking much better in the photo, but once I dirty it up a bit and weather it it’ll work fine. After all. it’s not a necessary piece for the costume, and really I purchased it more for the trophy lace than for the black spot wrap. In the end I feel like I helped out a fellow Captain Jack by buying from him, and there is certainly nothing wrong with that.

Now I really need to get busy and make more stuff to list on eBay and Etsy because I’m ready to start adding the bigger, more expensive pieces to my Jack Sparrow costume, and that takes money. Lots and lots of money. Costuming definitely isn’t a cheap hobby, but it sure is a lot of fun.

So I’m curious: what fun creative ways have you come up with for making extra money to spend on your costume?

Leave your answers in the comments section below, and I will see you all next time!

Belts. Buckles. Sash. It seems like I’ve used the above photo cropped to Captain Jack’s waistline about a dozen times already in this blog. But now this may very well be the last time because I’ve finally completely my belts by adding all the little trinkets that dangle from them. Sure, I still need a pistol and compass, but I would consider those more props than costume accessories. All in due time.

Dangling from Jack’s belts you will find two manky pelts, a chicken foot, a snake vertebra, and a mermaid charm. It is these little “greeblies” that add a fun look to the costume and give it texture.

First up, we have a netsuke mermaid charm. Netsuke are miniature sculptures invented in Japan in the 1600’s to hold small boxes and pouches onto obi sashes. Jack wears his mermaid charm hanging from his Anna Maria buckle on a length of cord that also has the snake vertebra tied to it. It serves no real purpose on Jack’s costume, but adds a neat little visual touch and hints that Jack has probably had some adventures in the Orient. The mermaid charm is actually quite tiny, but is a great detail that has been a part of Jack’s garb since “Dead Man’s Chest.”

Mermaid charms similar to Jack’s can be found on eBay and various websites that sell decorative Asian cafts, but many of these are actually a bit bigger than the one used on Jack’s screen costume. I lucked out by finding my mermaid charm on Etsy as part of a beaded bookmark.

Tied to the same cord as the mermaid charm is a single snake vertebra. For my costume I went for a large python vertebra as it is what several Jack Sparrow costumers had recommended. After looking at several hi-res photos of Jack’s gear and behind-the-scenes video from a costume featurette on the “Dead Man’s Chest” blu-ray it is clear to me that this is not exactly the same type of vertebra used for Jack’s costume, although it does appear to be accurate for the one used on the “On Stranger Tides” version of the outfit. The snake bone also came from seller on Etsy.

Together, the snake bone and mermaid charm make up what Johnny Depp called a “fertility symbol” which Jack wears “just ’cause.” For the cord I used some brown bamboo cord that I found at a Michael’s arts and crafts store. It looks thick in the these photos, but only because they are extreme close ups to show off the charms which are both less than 2 inches long. The cord is actually quite thin and a great match for what is used on the actual screen used costume.

Since I already had a chicken foot all I had to do was tie my new charms onto my Anna Maria buckle and my Anna Maria belt was complete!

Well, almost complete anyway. As I’ve mentioned in other posts, weathering and distressing is an important part of what makes a costume look lived in and real. And that pearly white snake bone dangling from my brand new Anna Maria belt just didn’t have the right amount of character yet. So what did I do? I aged them up.

For the snake vertebra I used very thin, watered down acrylic paint which I dabbed on with a brush and immediately rubbed off with a sheet of paper towel. The snake bone is very porous so it actually held a bit more paint than I would have liked, but the effect is still pretty awesome.

I didn’t worry too much about weathering the mermaid charm. Rubbing it with my fingers seemed to lighten it up in spots, and later on I may take a bit of fine sandpaper to it, but I don’t want to lose any of the detail to the carving, just fade the stain.

As for the cord, I applied a thin coating of Elmer’s Washable School Glue Gel (It looks blue in the bottle) to “fuse” the two strands together and effectively waterproof it and keep it from fraying. This also stiffened the cord slightly which helps it dangle the way I want it to without the bone and charm flopping around all over the place.

For the belt I got the leather soaking wet and then proceeded to beat the hell out of it, twisting and bending it all over and banging it against the floor. Then I took a blow dryer to it to get most of the moisture out of it, and finally I applied Pecard Leather Dressing to keep the leather soft. Next I used a bit of fine sandpaper and a wire brush in a few spots to add some wear, and finally I used acrylic craft paint to make it look dirty and dingy. I mixed gray, black, brown, and tan paint, applied it in light splotches with a medium brush, then spread it really thin with a thicker clean brush. The result was fantastic!

Now everything looks great and my Anna Maria belt really is complete.

The last items I added before the end of 2012 were the manky pelts. With my Anna Maria belt complete it only seemed natural to finish my sun belt, too. Many Jack Sparrow costumers use bits of rabbit fur found in craft stores for their manky pelts, but Jack’s pelts are actually the hide of animal legs with the claws still attached to the paws!

For the “Dead Man’s Chest”/”At World’s End” look the paws appear to be a red fox paw and the paw of a fisher (a large member of the weasel family found in North America). I’d been watching both eBay and Etsy for quite some time before I stumbled upon a fox paw that was long enough and looked right for the costume. The pelt measures about 10 inches long and is a tan color with a black stripe going down the front. A seller on eBay was selling a fox face and had the leg included, but I was lucky enough to talk him into selling me the leg and relisting the face separately.

Next I found the fisher paw after many exhaustive Google searches and hours of looking through furrier websites. I can definitely see why many Captain Jack’s out there opt to make their pelts out of scrap hide rather than searching for “the real deal” so to speak. I ordered three fisher paws to make sure I got one that was just right, and was able to flip the spares relatively easily on eBay to make my money back. My fisher paw is about 12 inches long, and like the the fox paw it too has the claws and paw pads.

Normally I make no secret of where I obtain the items for my costume, but I’m actually thinking very seriously about offering manky pelt sets for sale myself on my Ebay and Etsy stores. I’ve been thinking for a while now about what costume item I could offer to the Jack Sparrow community, and I think the manky pelts might just be it. I’ve found a reliable supplier for fisher paws that will work great, all I need now is to find a reliable supplier for accurate red fox paws. But I digress.

After I had both paws I poked a couple of small holes at the tops and ran a length of some black cord I had lying around through them, then tied it around to make them easy to tie to the belt. Since the cord is something you don’t really see the black cord I used works fine for now, but I will most likely switch it out for some dark brown leather cord later on, and if I do eventually offer manky pelts for sale they will definitely include leather cord.

After that all that was left was to tie them onto my sun belt and it was complete!

Well, not quite complete actually. Much like with the Anna Maria belt I decided there was still some tweaking to do before I was completely satisfied. My sun buckle was a bit too blue with patina, and when I took the photos I noticed that the pelts seemed too fluffy. Jack’s pelts look thin, stiff, and dingy, and here mine looked all soft and plush like something from a stuffed animal.

Here’s another photo of the two belts together and you’ll see exactly what I mean.

In order for the manky pelts to look right they really can’t be all soft and fluffy. They need to be, well…manky!

It’s the reason I went to great lengths to find fox and fisher paws in the first place. I didn’t want them to look pretty like an adornment you might find on a Native American costume, I wanted them to look like Jack’s manky pelts. So for a solution I decided to revisit the “Jack Sparrow: From Head to Toe” featurette found on the “Dead Man’s Chest” blu-ray bonus disc. What I discovered actually surprised me a little bit and yet at the same time made perfect sense.

When Pirates of the Caribbean costume designer Penny Rose picks up Jack’s belts and talks about the manky pelts in the video (this video is actually where the term “manky pelts” likely comes from, by the way) the pelts don’t hang loosely like soft fur, they stick straight out, almost like the leg bones are still inside! It not only explained why they hang from the belt the way they do, but why they look stiff and thin rather than fluffy and plush. I’ve actually seen deer legs tanned with the bone inside and used as Native American ceremonial rattle handles, so it makes sense that things like fox legs could be tanned with the bones still in place, too. So in the name of perfection I set about making my manky pelts as accurate as possible to simulate the stiff look of the ones worn by Captain Jack.

For convenience I’ve attached the video below so you can see exactly what I’m talking about. Skip to 4:50 on the video to see Penny Rose and Johnny Depp discuss the pelts as well as Jack’s other belt trinkets.

To achieve the stiff look of the screen used pelts I used some slender strips of dowel rod and glued them into place in the legs, then glued and stitched the loose leg fur around them. You’ll have to forgive me for not knowing the exact diameter of the dowel rods I used as they were some I had just lying around, but I can tell you they are small, not much bigger around than a soda straw. It worked perfectly! Again, this is something I will do to pelts if I do end up offering them for sale later on. They look so much better than rabbit fur, and people will get a kick out of the fact that they still have claws!

Finally, I used some Got2b Spiked-Up hair styling gel to give them that proper manky look. They really do look fantastic, if I may say so myself. The fox paw could stand to be a shade darker and look a bit dirtier, but that’s something I can easily accomplish later on.

To take some of the blue patina off the sun buckle I held it over low head on my kitchen stove. This toned down the blue while still leaving the buckle with a dull finish. After looking at the previous photos I decided the Anna Maria buckle looked a bit too blue and dark, too, so I lightened it up using a wire brush. I had previously suspended it in a jar over ammonia to let the fumes add the patina, but in the end I felt it just made the buckle too dark, and in the films Jack’s buckle almost looks nickel colored and shiny in the light.

So now my belts really are essentially finished. Like most cosplayers I will no doubt continue to tweak with them as time goes on, but I am generally quite pleased with the way they look now.

If a set of accurate pelts like these is something you would be interested in for your costume feel free to leave a comment below and I will get the ball rolling as soon as possible to make them available on eBay and on my Etsy store.

My Jack Sparrow costuming adventures are still far from over, but I’m actually thrilled with what I’ve acquired so far since starting with the Anna Maria buckle one year ago. Sure, I already had a bandanna and skull ring before that, but the Anna Maria buckle was the first item I bought with the full intention of putting together a complete costume. If I had more money I would have no doubt rushed to put it all together much faster, but really I think assembling it one piece at a time has actually made the experience a lot more rewarding. It’s turned this into a true journey rather than an easily obtainable goal, and some fantastic new items have even become available in recent months that I would be no doubt be trying to upgrading to if I had rushed and just assembled the outfit in one fell swoop. Buying things one piece at a time has forced me to be much more selective and to make sure I get each piece right the first time rather than wasting money on things I would just be using to get buy with until I could get something better.

I still have a long way to go and many major items to get before I’m running around in full gear with my arms flapping about shouting “why is the rum gone?”, but that’s okay. Sharing my costuming adventures with all of you through this blog has taught me a great deal of patience and allowed me to savor the joy each new item brings without jumping off into the deep end and trying to snag all the pieces at once (something I cannot currently afford to do anyway).

I’m not completely sure what my next item will be; maybe the wig, a compass, or the waistcoat. But in the mean time I still have plenty of new pieces I haven’t even shared with you yet like the stolen ring and my tattoos. So stick around, because new posts are coming real soon.

Plus, I very recently obtained a brand new laptop computer, so I’m no longer trapped in the past using Windows XP on a 10 year old desktop. What does this mean for the blog? VIDEOS!!! I’ve only had the new laptop a few days so I’m still learning my way around Windows 8 (which is a bit of a pain in the ass, by the way, but that’s a rant for another time), but it won’t be long before I’m posting video reviews of my costume pieces so you can get an even better look at them to help with your own costuming adventures. Videos will include weathering tips, product reviews, and probably a lot of goofing around, too.

Anyway, that’s enough carrying on for now, so until next time, keep a weather eye on that horizon!

First up, my new Anna Maria belt, made by the awesome Captain McCool. You can check out his Etsy store at www.etsy.com/shop/CastawayTradingCo. McCool previously made my sun belt that was featured in an earlier post. For the Anna Maria belt, he used leather he acquired from overstock used to make leather goods for the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. The belt is a dark tan color and is 2 1/4″ wide. It doesn’t actually fit the Anna Maria buckle (which is made for a 3″ wide belt), but that is how Captain Jack wore his, too, as can be seen in the photo above. For “On Stranger Tides” the buckle was actually modified to fit the belt, but the look I’m going for is “Dead Man’s Chest”/”At World’s End”, so here the belt and buckle are appropriate.

The belt also has a brown smudge on its tip and a patch in the back where the belt has been split. It’s possible that the original belt didn’t fit Johnny Depp quite right and the patch was added to make the belt a bit longer, but it may have also just been for looks. Either way, it’s one of those small touches that adds to the overall look of the costume.

The patch is meant to be from a separate piece of leather so it has no stitching, and for my belt Captain McCool made it a bit darker than the rest of the belt so that it really looks thrown together.

One thing I did after the fact was switch out the leather lacing that was used to hold the patch in place because I felt the original lacing was a bit too light in color. Of course the lacing I used is too dark, but it’s what I had lying around, so I may end up changing it out again later on.

The belt turned out great and I am absolutely pleased. Captain McCool is a great guy who does some awesome work, and I look forward to doing more business with him in the future. I highly recommend checking out his Etsy store, The Castaway Trading Co., because he offers up some fantastic nautically themed items over there.

Several months ago I acquired a chicken foot to dangle from my Anna Maria buckle (as can be seen in one of the photos above and also in a previous post), and fairly recently I got hold of the other trinkets that Jack has dangling from his belts. It’s these little touches that really make the costume come to life, and I’ll have plenty of photos of them in my next post (don’t worry, it’ll be up very soon, I promise). I’ll also be discussing some distressing techniques you can use to give your leather goods a great weathered look. But for now I want to show off one more awesome item that my pal Captain McCool sent my way: Jack’s leather palm glove.

On his right hand Jack wears a leather palm glove that loops around his two middle fingers and thumb and then ties around his wrist. It’s a neat little piece that allows Jack to keep a a good grip on his sword during those sweat inducing sword fights under the hot Caribbean sun. I was thrilled when my Anna Maria belt arrived to find a terrific bonus item thrown in, Captain McCool had made me a brilliant leather palm glove to go with my outfit!

McCool and I had gotten to know each other a bit, first on the message boards and then on facebook, after I ordered my sun belt from him, and when I ordered the Anna Maria belt in June he was going through a move and had quite a few things going on. He told me it would be a while before he could get to the belt, but I assured him I was in no hurry. I, too, had a custom order to make a spooky cemetery sign that I couldn’t get to right away because I had recently broken my shoulder, so I completely understood. Finally in late September things settled down a bit for both of us; I was able to complete the sign I needed to make, and McCool was able to put the finishing touches on the belt. To make up for the longer-than-expected time it had taken us to complete these projects I threw in a couple of vampire stake keychains (I’ll explain shortly) and McCool tossed in the palm glove.

Part of what I love about the Jack Sparrow costuming community is that its members are always quick to help each other out. I see guys trading spare items with each other all the time on the message boards, posting tutorials about items they’ve made, and letting everyone know where they can get the best products. If you haven’t done so already, you’ll definitely want to check out the forums at Keep to the Code and The Brethren Court. Also be sure to check out Jack Sparrow Costuming, a fantastic wiki meant to help point people in the right direction as they work to put their Jack Sparrow costumes together. Whether you are setting out to throw together a quick, inexpensive version of the gear, or you’re going for 100% screen accuracy you can get some excellent tips by visiting these sites, and probably make a few new friends along the way.

My own Jack Sparrow costuming adventure certainly would have been much more arduous without the terrific info I’ve acquired from these sites. It was on these message boards that I met and became friends with Captain McCool and many other great Jack Sparrow costuming enthusiasts. I hope to eventually meet and maybe sit down and have a beer (or rum, rum’s good) with some of thesm. No doubt we’ll all have plenty of great tales to tell.

But I digress. The palm glove McCool sent me is great, and I’ve since sent a couple of pirate keychains and a snake vertebrae for his Captain Jack costume his way as a way of saying thanks and to return the favor. One of my favorite things about the glove is that it has leather straps for you to wrap around your wrist to tie it on. Some palm gloves I’ve seen have a sort of “cuff” that is laced together with a bit of string, but Jack’s glove in the movie clearly has leather ties as can be seen in the photo below.

Since Jack’s wrist wrap goes over the palm glove it really isn’t a big deal how it ties on, I just like the little detail of having the straps dangle down from the wrist. The palm glove used in “On Stranger Tides” may be different (I’ve noticed that the thumb strap is different), but for the “Dead Man’s Chest” look the straps are perfect. I had to make a few minor adjustments to the glove to get the fit just right, but it’s yet another item I can now check off my list.

So earlier I mentioned a custom ordered sign and some keychains I made. Well, it just so happens I’ve been selling some handmade items on eBay for a couple years now and several months ago I started an Etsy store as well.

In 2010 I played the role of Dr. Van Helsing in a stage production of “Dracula: The Musical?” (yes, that question mark is supposed to be there; it’s a comedy), and I decided to make a couple of wooden stakes as part of the costume. I got a little carried away with designs, and by the time the show opened I had made 8 stakes, even though my costume had a holster to hold 3 and the script only referenced a stake once. Before each performance I would have a different cast member pick which stakes I would use that night on stage. My costume also included a lot of little glass vials hanging around my neck and on my belt full of all sorts of oddities, and I had a little story for each one. (Yep, my approach to acting isn’t too dissimilar to the way Johnny Depp approaches his roles).

At some point I had the brilliant thought that there were probably people out there who would buy vampire stakes like the ones I had made, so I made a few more and put them up on eBay. Sure enough, they all sold. By the end of 2011 I had probably sold close to 100 of them, both ones I listed and quite a few custom orders. I had also made some mini stakes as keychains that I gave to the cast and crew, so I put a few of those on eBay and they sold really well, too. Next I made some wizard wands to see how they would do. Occasionally one sells, but they haven’t been no where near as big a hit as my wooden vampire stakes have been.

I’d contemplated making wooden mallets of some kind for a while for those vampire slayers out there who want to do in their vampires old school Van Helsing style, but hadn’t attempted to make one until last year when a customer requested one. That gave me an idea, so pretty soon I was selling sets that include a mallet and 3 matching stakes. These have become another big hit.

As for the cemetery sign, that was another request from the same customer who bought the first mallet. It was for a Halloween display she was putting together, and I was more than happy to take on the project. I think it turned out pretty darn well.

Anyway, feel free to check out my Etsy store, www.etsy.com/shop/CaptainMcAnen, and if you find something you like you can enter Coupon Code “BECOMINGJACKSPARROW” (all one word) at checkout to receive 10% off your purchase. I also happily accept custom orders, so if you have something specific in mind let me know and I will fix you up. It is by selling these products that I have been able to afford the pieces of my Jack Sparrow outfit so far, so any purchases you make will help keep my Jack Sparrow costuming adventure going and this blog up and running. The 10% Coupon Code is a small way for me to say thank you to all of you for following my blog and making this experience so much fun. I really appreciate your support!

There’s still plenty more to come, so keep following the blog because I’ve got plenty more items to acquire before I’m done, as well as tutorials and videos making their way to the blog this year as well. And you’ll definitely want to stick around because there might just be some contests and giveaways coming up in the very near future, too.

Also, feel free to leave comments and let me know about your own costuming adventures. Until next time, “Drink up me hearties, yo-ho!!!”